Nail-extracting claw.



P. J. LEAVENS.

NAIL EXTRAGTING CLAW.

APPLICATION FILED 11:340. 1914.

1,108,766. Patented Aug; 25, 1914 Jig 1 amw/wtom m. .EJL/j allay/e723,

nn rnn STATES ra'rmrr OFFTC.

PHILIP 5'. LEAVENS, OF PALMYRA, NEVI J NAIL EXTRACTING 'SLAW.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, PHILIP J. LEAVENS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Palmyra, in the county of Burlington and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Nail-EX- tracting Claws, of which the following is a specification. Q

This invention relates to claws for eXtracting nails, such for instance asare usually provided in connection with a hammer, although the invention is not limited to such an application.

The invention relates particularly to that class of claws in which the gripping jaws are provided with biting edges so as to adapt them to bite into and grip the cylindrical surface of'the nail and not be dependent upon engagement beneath a head or enlargement of the nail. In practice, gripping edges have been provided on the'faces of the slot in the claw and coincident with the outer face which is used as a fulcrum in drawing the nail, and there is a distinct advantage in so locating the biting edges, because it adapts the claw to grip the cylindrical body to be extracted, when quite close to the surface penetrated; but such a location of the biting edges is disadvantageous in that it leaves them insufliciently supported where the work to be done is relatively severe, with the result that theedge is frequently chipped or fractured in negotiating a large nail. This difficulty gave rise to the employment of biting edges offset inwardly from the fulcrum surface of the claw and running parallel thereto, so that the edge can be supported by an outward incline of relatively low angle and danger of fracture thus avoided. But this limits the capacity of the claw to the extraction of nails which protrude considerably beyond the penetrated surface; moreover, the chipping difficulty or tendency to fracture is incident mainly to the gripping of larger nails,which are encountered only by wider portions ofthe gripping slot, so that the necessity for the inset biting edges diminishes with the width of the slot and disappears altogether at those portions of the slot where only the smallest nails can enter. The present invention eliminates the difficulties of each of these types of biting-edge extracting claws and retains the advantages of both, by having the biting edges inset from the fulcrum surface at or near the wide end of the slot and along Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed February 10, 1914.

Patented Aug. 251, 191 i.

Serial No. 817,854.

the wider portions thereof, but coincident with said fulcrum face at or near the narrow end of the slot; said biting edges being preferably inclined to the fulcrum face, so that they gradually approach the fulcrum face until they meet the same at a point where the width is too small to admit of a nail capable of impairing the edge and then continue coincident with said fulcrum face towardthe narrower end of the'slot. Several advantages arise from thus gradually changing from the inset to the coincident position of the bitin edges, among which are facility in manufacture, the graduation of the strength of the rib according to the severity of the work to be performed, and the increase of the proximity of the bite to the penetrated surface, and consequently the increased capacity for gripping short nails; while the continuance of the edges coincident with the fulcrum surfacebeyond the point of merger affords the closest possible bite for all nails that are too small to endanger such a coincident edge.

The invention will be fully understood upon reference to the accompanying drawing, in which;

Figure 1 represents a hammer having the improved claw applied thereto; one branch of the claw being brokenaway to disclose the relation of the biting edge to the fulcrum surface; Figs. 2, 3 and lare transverse sections through both sides of the claw taken, respectively, on the lines 2 2 3 3 and M-d", of Fig. 1. i

A represents the body of the tool which may be given any desired shape convenient for manipulation of the claw. The claw is constructed with a fulcrum surface 1, preferably arcuate to provide a rolling fulcrum as is usual, and 2 represents the slot which intersects said fulcrum surface and is tapered both transversely and longitudinally of the claw. The gripping faces provided by the slot 2 are constructed with biting edges 3. These edges are inset from the fulcrum surface at the wider end of the claw, as indicated by the section shown in Fig. l, and are inclined to said fulcrum surface so that they gradually approach the same, until at the section shown in Fig. 3 they are only about half the distance shown at the section of Fig. 4-, and at the section of Fig. 2, they have become merged with the fulcrum surface and continue coincident therewith from there on.

For convenience in manufacture, the cut ting edges 3 may be forged parallel with the outer forged face of the claw, and the forging then ground away to develop not only the general relationship constituting the essence of the invention, but the specific relationship disclosed as the preferred embodiment of the invention;

I claim v 1. A nailextracting claw constructed with a tapered slot, and a fulcrum face intersected thereby; said slot providing a pair of gripping faces; said gripping faces being constructed w1th opposed biting edges extending longitudinally thereof; said biting edges comprising ribs protruding from the gripping faces and said ribs being located inward from the said fulcrum face along the wider portion of the tapered slot andcoincident with said fulcrum face along the narrower portion of said slot.

2. A nail extracting claw constructed with a tapered slot, and a fulcrum face intersected thereby; said slot providing a pair of gripping faces; said gripping faces being constructed with opposed biting edges extending longitudinally thereof; said biting edges comprising ribs protrudingfrom the gripping faces and" said ribs converging toward the fulcrum face from a point inset from said fulcrum face at the wider end of the slot, to pointscoincident with said fulcrum face at an intermediate part of the slot and extending coincident with said'fulcruin face beyond said intermediate points, toward the narrower end of the slot.

The foregoing specification signed at lVaslL, D. (1., this 7 day of Jany, 1914. i

, v PHILIP J; 'LEAVENS.

In presence of two witnesses:

EDWIN S. GLAnKsoN, J. M. WYNKooP.

Copies 01! this patent may be obtained for five. cents each, by addressing the Gommissioner of Patents, Washington, D. 0." 

